Asphyxia: 30 Breathtakes
by Ruingaraf
Summary: Challenge for Livejournal- 30 drabble themes of breathless moments. GxS --#6: Hands--
1. 13: Tangled in the sheets

"#13: Tangled in the Sheets"

Author: Ruingaraf  
Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Words: 150

* * *

It was a well-known fact that Nashira was famous for an unusual amount of rain. Therefore, the fact that laundry was customarily hung indoors was, if not exactly obvious, certainly not unexpected either. One would also think that one who had lived in the town their entire life, as Gibari had, would be aware of this and therefore of the accompanying dangers.

Unfortunately, the fisherman had happened to be looking over his shoulder when an innocent clothesline crossed his path.

_WHAM. _Flat on his back, with the air knocked right out of him. Figured, the one time he wasn't watching for the stupid thing. He managed to extract himself from the mass of sheets and pillowcases, grumbling.

Savyna bit her lip in an attempt to refrain from laughing at the unfortunate man's curses. "Would it help if the line was higher off the ground next time?"

"Probably not. Damn sheets."


	2. 8: You're good at what you do

"#8: You're good at what you do"

Author: Ruingaraf  
Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Words: 300

* * *

"You wouldn't think it, but fish are built completely different from any other animal. That's probably why you're having a bit of trouble." Gibari explained, thumping a sizable glubberfish in the center of the table as he pushed a few questionable attempts aside. Savyna stood next to him, trying not to look frustrated with her own inaptitude.

"Hey." The Nashira native frowned a bit upon noticing the woman's slight irritation. "It's not like this is easy or anything, and at least you cut the _fish_."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "As opposed to what?"

Gibari grinned a bit sheepishly as he help up his left pinky finger, which bore a large scar, long since healed over. "I damn near cut it off, too. Wasn't exactly the brightest kid. Anyway…" he pulled the boning knife from where it had gotten stuck in one of the ribs, and considered for a moment exactly how he would demonstrate the subtle movements involved in the process.

After a few seconds, he handed the knife to Savyna and stood behind her, then began to guide each of her hands with his own. He felt her breath catch in her throat at the sudden closeness, and couldn't help but grin a little.

He pulled the catch towards the two of them, and began to scale it as he continued his explanation. "So if you do it like this, you'll get roughly a third of the weight of the fish in meat, and the rest can be boiled into a broth..."

She allowed herself a small smile. "You certainly know what you're doing."

He chuckled. "I sure hope so, I don't know how to do much else."

Across the room, Reblys opened his mouth to comment, but promptly closed it again as Ana stomped on his foot.


	3. 6: Handwriting

"#6: Handwriting"

Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Words: 200  
Notes: You may not entirely get this is you don't know a bit about Japanese kantakana. I used Japanese because BK seems to be Japan-based.

* * *

Savyna closed her eyes and breathed slowly. In through the mouth, out through the nose. Release all tension and stress. Breathe.

Peering at the scrap of paper again, she bit her tongue, and finally admitted to herself that it was almost completely illegible. With a soft groan, she relinquished her pride and turned around to address the man. "Gibari? Could you come here? I can't read what you wrote."

Bare feet padded over, making soft noises on the wooden floor. He peered over her shoulder to examine his own scrawl. "What, that? That says 'shi', of course."

Well… at least _he_ could read it.

She raised an eyebrow. "That _definitely_ looks like it says 'tsu'. Are you sure?"

He looked slightly offended. "'Course I'm sure, I wrote it. And the rest of it is pretty clear, isn't it?"

A soft sigh. "I can't tell your 'so' from your 'n', either. They look _completely identical_."

"Well… I can read it. That's what matters, right?" He still looked a little indignant. Apparently she wasn't the first person who'd noticed his abomination of a script.

She rolled her eyes, a slight smile playing at her lips. "Just let me write it next time."


	4. 18: In the Rain

"(18) In the Rain"

Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Words: 272  
Notes: Inspired by Sticky's comment that Gibari was just like someone's crazy old uncle. Mostly the word 'crazy' in connotation with Gibari, though. Also inspired by the idea that Savyna grew up in Alfard, a desert, and that Nashira's damp climate might not be something she was fond of. Additionally, was reading a self-help romance book at the booksale today that said that the top sign of a bad relationship was a partner that 'wasn't an emotional person' or 'isn't good at wording feelings', because people like that were obviously still dealing with past trauma, and should be left alone. Pissed me off so much that the plotbunnies attacked, since my three main pairings all feature a character who's either somewhat emotionally tongue-tied (Sasuke and Savyna) or just is quiet and believes that actions speak louder than words (Hawkeye). Anyway... may seem a bit OOC, but it happened in my mind about a year after the end of the game. Hopefully that lessens the OOC-ness a bit? -stresses-

* * *

"No." Savyna stood under the dripping overhang to a building as water came down in harsh sheets from an angry black sky. "Absolutely not." She looked slightly irritated, as if he was missing the obvious fact that romping about in the cold and wet was really _not_ her idea of a good time. A lone droplet trickled from her damp bangs down her face as her eyes narrowed stubbornly.

"We're already soaked to the bone. Come on. What's it going to hurt?" She finally gave in to the spark of mischief gleaming in hazel eyes, and with a sigh she joined him: -half dragged, half jogging alongside him- as he whooped and ran through the downpour until both were short of breath.

"I feel ridiculous." she half-shouted over the deafening thunder, slowing to a stop as she attempted to brush the water out of her eyes with an equally wet hand. "Can we stop?"

He grinned, and she bit her own lip to contain the infectiousness of it, the cynical eyebrow still cocked in question.

"That's what's great about not caring what other people think. You can do anything you can think of, and nothing will make you feel stupid!" Instead of disappearing, the damn contagious grin grew wider.

She looked at him as if he had lost his mind, and he laughed manically, then pulled her into a one-armed bear hug.

"Come on, you can't still say you hate the rain." He teased, still chuckling.

Face in his shoulder, she found that she had lost against his infectious grin as well. There was a brief silence, then a muttered. "…shut up."


	5. 39: Even while you're sick

"(39) Even while you're sick"

Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Words: 457 (Ah, to hell with trying to reach specific numbers.)  
Notes: This is sort of a sequel to 'In the Rain'. In other news… ZOMG SO SORRY ABOUT THE LACK OF UPDATES. I'm actually going through a tough time right now, which is making the muses bite. Weird, huh? I'm also assuming that since the BK world has evidently has bluebirds and ravens, it must also have geese. Since people have wings, all bird species are intact, except for Cluckers and Holoholobirds… right? Yeah, now I'm just making excuses.

* * *

A few loud, wheezing coughs sounded from her left, and Savyna groaned softly, deciding that it was too much effort to curse. She curled tighter into a ball and wrapped her fists in a quilt to subdue her mounting frustration.

It had been going on like this for hours. Gibari would finally stop coughing long enough to fall into an exhausted slumber, which allowed the lighter sleeper to begin to drift off as well. Unfortunately, said sleep was always cut short a few minutes later by another fit, which in turn caused her to wake up again. To make matters worse, the usual cough herbs were doing absolutely nothing to help.

This was beginning to look like a vicious cycle, and that cycle did not appear to be stopping any time soon.

After a few minutes of attempting to thrash himself into a comfortable position, Gibari finally gave up, flopping flat on his back.

"Hey. You still up?" he whispered harshly.

Savyna thought to herself that he sounded like his larynx had been attacked by a rogue cheese grater. An affirmative grunt came from within the cocoon of fabric, followed by a sneeze.

His eyes drifted towards the impressive collection of every blanket and coat in the house. "Still cold, huh?"

The response was several more sneezes, though they probably sounded a bit more like muffled hisses to him. Then, a voice. "You won't be needing them any time soon, will you?" she mumbled dryly.

"Actually, yeah." Gibari emitted what might have been originally intended as a sheepish chuckle. "I've started sweatin' so much I've got goosebumps, even though I'm still burnin' up. Why-" he descended into coughing for a moment, then continued after a deep breath "-are ya any warmer like that?"

"No." she replied, her tone absolutely vehement. "I _hate_ being cold." Slowly, she began to untangle herself, irritably throwing the farthest edge of each towards him with an air of disdain.

"I hate having a fever. It's weird, I'm _never_ sick." he mused, catching the quilts as they fell.

"You should thank some kind of deity for that." she grumbled as she tossed the last one, then sneezed again. "It's an absolute miracle, especially when you frolic about in the rain like a child."

A feigned look of injury crossed the man's face. "Geez, Savyna, you're really grouchy when you're not feeling good."

She looked down, ashamed, and a long awkward moment passed. "…sorry"

"S'okay. Don't worry about it." Gibari rolled over on his side, facing away from her. He didn't seem to be angry, just intending to go back to sleep. Or to try, anyway.

A slight relieved smiled flickered across her features, and she curled back up, thankful for his forgiving nature.


	6. 10: Hands

"(10) Hands"

Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Notes: Finally getting some inspiration for these two, yay! Inspired a bit by the recent update to Back To Reality.

* * *

Their hands told the stories of their lives, and who they truly were.

Gibari's hands were rough and chapped from a life on the sea. He had never bothered to put moistening balms on them, or even really bothered to take care of them at all. As far as he was concerned, if he had time to worry about the state of his skin, he could be out on the boat, catching more fish. His nails were a bit off-color and splintered, victim of the same absence of care; aside from peeling them when they became too long. The palms, roughened but not deeply callused. His were the hands of a man who worked hard to gain his share in life, and only picked up a weapon to protect those dear to him.

Savyna's hands were surprisingly pale and slender, and even soft in a few places. The pads of her fingers, her knuckles, and her palms featured deep calluses, born of holding a weapon since childhood and not likely to ever disappear. With her new life in Nashira to consider, she'd thought about slicing into them and grinding them away, but she'd decided against it. They might have been the part of her life that she wanted to erase, but that was all the more reason to keep them. Her nails always seemed to be getting long, so she kept them that way, reminiscent of the claws on her weapons. Hers were the hands of a one-time killer that still lacked the knowledge to do much else.

Their hands met and clasped, roughened fingers to calloused palm, and drove away uncertainty.


	7. 4: In the Snow

"(4) In the Snow"

Fandom: Baten Kaitos  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: GxS  
Notes: Horray for replaying the game! And double horray for 'Dancing Samurai', which I cannot seem to stop listening to.

* * *

In hindsight, getting coats of some kind before traveling to Wazn might have been a good idea. As it was, they had not. For reasons none of them could discern, Xelha was having an easy time of it and looked as if she might have been going for a morning stroll through the snowdrifts. Mizuti was doing almost as well, using her magic to float above the worst of the mounds. Lyude was shoving through to the best of his ability, but at least he only looked heavily exterted- the Imperial uniform was warmer than one might have guessed.

That left Savyna, wearing clothing clearly intended for scorching deserts and dense jungles, and Gibari, shirtless and attempting to beat the snow out of his path with his paddle. Despite this, neither one seemed inclined to complain, possibly with the idea that the faster they moved, the faster they might find somewhere warm. And so they trudged on.

"Monsters!" Lyude called suddenly, from a short distance up the makeshift path. "Up ahead a little. They haven't seen us yet, but they will."

Hearing a soft curse to his left, Gibari turned. Savyna was attempting to shove her numb fingers into her Tekken, and not having much success.

"Here." The woman reflexively backed away a little as her personal space was invaded and her hands siezed, brought up and rubbed between Gbiari's own. Just as quickly they were dropped, looking at least a little less pale. Savyna flexed them experimentally, then pulled her weapons on.

An awkward moment passed. "Thanks."

Gibari grinned doggedly through what was probably mild hypothermia by now. "Don't mention it. Now let's kick some ass, I need to get m' blood runnin' again!"


End file.
